FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST
Rally and Hearing
1416 NINTH STREET
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
PUSH FOR MAXIMUM OPPORTUNITIES FOR REHABILITATION
THROUGH PROP 57 CREDITS
USE THE LETTER BELOW TO E-MAIL YOUR TESTIMONY TO:
staff@oal.ca.gov, vicky.waters@cdcr.ca.gov
and Jeffrey.callison@cdcr.ca.gov
and also to action@youth4justice.org
THANK YOU TO THE THOUSANDS OF YOU – INSIDE STATE PRISONS AND OUT –
WHO ALREADY SENT LETTERS!
Together we can build a safer, healthier, fairer system.
———
SAMPLE LETTER
Everything highlighted in yellow indicates places where you should insert information or letterhead.
Everything in red indicates places where you might want to add your experiences and opinions.
Put on Your Organization, School or Agency Letterhead
unless you are writing as an individual.
Date
Secretary Scott Kernan
Associate Director Lockwood
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Regulation and Policy Management Branch�P.O. Box 942883�
Sacramento, CA 94283-0001
By e-mail: Jeffrey.callison@cdcr.ca.gov
The Office of Administrative Law
OAL Reference Attorney
300 Capitol Mall, Suite 1250
Sacramento, California 95814
By fax: (916) 323-6826
By email: staff@oal.ca.gov and vicky.waters@cdcr.ca.gov
RE: Proposition 57 Regulations
———–
Dear Secretary Kernan and Associate Director Lockwood:
I am writing to provide comments on the Prop 57 regulations.
Write here about who you are:
Examples:
I am a high school student and my mother has been incarcerated for 15 years, or
I am an elementary school teacher and want a better future for my students, or,
I am a mother of four, and grandmother of three, or,
I am an attorney practicing in San Mateo, where I have worked for ten years as a public defender, or,
I am a survivor of violent crime and active in my community.
I am concerned about Prop 57 regulations because write about why you care about Prop 57 implementation, including how this impacts you, your family, and/or your community:
Ideas:�
Did you vote for Prop 57? Did you help collect signatures or otherwise work on Prop 57? Do you have experience being incarcerated and getting access to hope and programming? Do you have a loved one who is incarcerated and will be affected? Do you work with incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people? Do you have personal experience with education, vocational training or rehabilitative programming?
I am writing to urge that these components be included in the regulations:
1. Credits should be awarded retroactively. Voters passed Prop 57 with the assumption that it would help those people already serving time in state prison. People inside who have been working hard to complete self-help and rehabilitative programs deserve to benefit from their efforts, especially given that their progress was not inspired by the promise of Prop 57. Providing credit opportunities to everyone will increase both hope and opportunity within the system – further guaranteeing that California moves toward a system that is both more rehabilitative and more effective in reducing recidivism. Finally, awarding credits retroactively would better address prison overcrowding and cost savings could be redirected to increase education and other programs.
If applicable, add the importance of retroactivity to you and/or your family here.
2. People who are eligible for an earlier parole hearing under Senate Bill 260 and Senate Bill 261 (youthful parole) should earn credits toward reducing time on their new parole date, not their original parole date. Without this guarantee, many young people will be serving longer sentences for the same charges as adults. The purpose of Prop 57 was to increase hope and opportunity. Denying people who were young when convicted does not uphold the spirit of the law passed by voters.
If applicable, add the importance of SB 260 and SB 261 youthful parole eligibility to you and/or your family here.
3. People convicted to life under California’s Three Strike Law should be eligible for early parole under Prop 57. The regulations wrongly assume that all strikes are “violent,” unfairly excluding over 4,000 people who are the lowest risk by CDCR’s own risk evaluations.
If applicable, add the importance of including people with third strike convictions here.
4. People convicted to life without parole who were under 18 at the time of the offense should also be able to earn Prop 57 credits if they are resentenced under SB 9 or future changes in law. Without this change, people sentenced to youth LWOP will continue to face barriers to accessing – let alone completing – education and other rehabilitative programming.
If applicable, add the importance of including people serving Youth Life Without Parole sentences to you and/or your family here.
5. People eligible for elder parole should also be able to earn credits toward their new date not their original parole date. Without this change, elders will not benefit from the promise of Prop 57.
If applicable, add the importance of including people eligible for elder parole to you and/or your family.
6. Mandate that the California Department of Corrections work with service providers, people who are incarcerated within the state prison system and their families to revisit issues related to implementation of Proposition 57 twice a year (every 6 months) in order to identify and address barriers to participation for some populations. As CDCR has begun implementation of Proposition 57 emergency regulations, unintended consequences and conflicts have arisen from the new protocols and tracking system.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Signature
Name
Title (If from an organization, agency or school)
Organization, School Agency (if you are not writing as an individual)
Address